Tara Cherwony has a long history with the Jewish Relief Agency; she started going to their programs in middle school and re-engaged as a young adult by joining the inaugural class of JRA’s leadership academy program.
The Rittenhouse resident is now a leader at the agency as the director of development and leadership initiatives, a job where she concentrates on fundraising, leading campaigns, the leadership program and engagement with program alumni, among other responsibilities.
Cherwony is also heavily involved in the Jewish community outside of work, teaching Hebrew school at Temple Sinai, running a social action group for seventh to 10th graders, and serving on the board of the Federation’s NextGen group.
Can you tell me about your Jewish upbringing and how that shaped your interests?
I’m the oldest of three. My parents kind of let my siblings and I have what I like to call “salad bar Judaism.” Having two Jewish parents who had varying Jewish upbringings really let me and my siblings choose how we wanted to embrace and incorporate Judaism into our lives. I got bat mitzvahed, I got confirmed, I got my Hebrew school teaching certificate from Gratz.
But I think the turning point was joining BBYO in high school. When I really do reflect on my time in high school, I really think mostly about the memories and experiences in BBYO, and that really inspired me to get involved as a volunteer, and then also as a professional.
As I became an adult and had time and dollars to give, it was really important to give it back to a lot of organizations, but I really started off with those that gave experiences to me growing up.
What about working in a Jewish space speaks to you?
I started my career in the Jewish nonprofit space, working at Federation’s Early Learning Services, but really for the bulk of my career after that, I spent it in higher ed and corporate tech. I initially made the transition from Jewish communal professional to lay leader.
I did put a lot of my time and energy into serving our community on the volunteer end of things, and so when the opportunity to come on board as a staff member at JRA presented itself, I jumped up at the opportunity because it is work I am so passionate about and did for years and years as a volunteer, and knew that that was probably where my career path was taking me. It just happened a little bit sooner than I expected or planned but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What does it mean to you to be able to spend so much of your time working and volunteering for the Jewish community?
It’s really meaningful to me to be able to do the work that I’m doing, because if we as Jews aren’t caring for each other, our community, then I think a lot of us do feel like, ‘Who is?’ I think we’re really fortunate living in Philadelphia. I think there is such a historic and currently thriving Jewish community, but there are still a lot of people that are unengaged or not engaged in the right ways. And I really needed a mission to kind of help people find their place.
Why is it important for you to be involved?
I had really positive Jewish experiences and influences all throughout my life. And I really hope to be that for the next generation and for people in need, to be able to give them resources that they need.
What do you hope to continue accomplishing at JRA in the next few years?
We [JRA] just celebrated our 25th anniversary, which is really incredible. And I think right now JRA is in a really good place programmatically — we know what our clients’ needs are, and the programs we have in place are really solid and really helpful. We’re not necessarily looking to really expand our programs.
We’re certainly looking to make sure that no Jewish person in Greater Philadelphia is hungry. And I think there’s still work to be done in that place, with expanding our services to Jewish clients that, for whatever reason, we haven’t reached yet.
We’re also really looking to expand some of our volunteer opportunities. There’s a lot more that we can do beyond our monthly food distribution and on the fundraising and leadership side, looking to diversify our revenue streams, to still create that leadership pipeline, potentially build out some additional leadership opportunities.
What is something people might not know about you?
I am a wedding officiant. I’ve officiated six weddings, but I would say my most notable was a couple who I indirectly set up at a NextGen singles event in January 2020, right before the pandemic. And I had the pleasure of officiating their wedding last October, on my birthday.
